The present invention relates to multi-purpose football tees. Many years ago, up until the early 1980s, when an American football was to be place kicked off a tee, the tee consisted of a surface supporting the tip of the football and at least two upstanding prongs against which the surface of the football leaned to provide a support for kicking a football. Applicant developed the first tee that utilized the concept of a recessed surface shaped to mimic the shape of the surface of the football to provide a surface contact with the ball with the tee devoid of any upstanding prongs.
Back in the days when place kickers kicked the ball with their toe in what was described as “conventional” kicking, the kicker's kicking foot could hit the ball while the bottom of the foot or the shoe he was wearing and its cleats easily cleared the top portions of the prongs. When place kickers began using what is now described as “soccer-style” kicking technique, led by the Gogolak brothers, Peter at Cornell University and Charlie at Princeton University, in the early to mid 1960s, the upstanding prongs became a problem. Soccer-style kickers kicked the ball with their toe down and the toe or end of the shoe would often hit one or both of the prongs immediately prior to the foot or shoe striking the ball, thus slightly dislodging the ball just prior to impact. The result was slight movement of the ball and inability to gain a clean hit on the ball. The football would typically travel down the field, not in a uniform end over end spin but in a fluttering spin that reduced height, distance, and accuracy.
Applicant's development and commercialization of tees using a recess to support the football solved this problem. As a result, kickers could gain a clean hit on the ball which did not move until struck directly by the foot or shoe. This resulted in increased accuracy, height, and distance.
Initial versions of Applicant's tees were covered by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,453 issued Apr. 7, 1987, 4,657,252 issued Apr. 14, 1987, D 291,714 issued Sep. 1, 1987, D 305,448 issued Jan. 9, 1990.
In 1988, the National Football League (NFL) approved for game use Applicant's tee consisting of the combination of the base of U.S. Pat. No. D 305,448, and the kicking tee insert of U.S. Pat. No. D 291,714.
Several NFL kickers began using that tee which was known by the registered Trademark TOE-TAL®. However, the base was made of a hard plastic and all too often kickers would strike the base and crack it. This necessitated maintaining an inventory of replacement bases with which to supply kickers.
Thus, a need arose for a kicking tee with a base that was more resilient so that it could be struck by a kicker's foot or shoe without resultant breakage. Thus, evolved the second generation TOE-TAL® tee covered by U.S. Pat. Nos. D 372,062, D 383,816, D 383,817, and D 392,705. The second generation TOE-TAL® tee became quite popular in high schools and colleges and in the professional ranks including the NFL. It was used in NFL games starting around 1996 in the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. D 383,816. However, problems arose when NFL officials began noticing kickers pushing the rubber insert up from within the base to gain additional elevation on the tee. Based upon these observations, the NFL mandated that, going forward, all approved football tees were required to be made of one piece. Thus, evolved the GROUND ZERO®-1 tee which looks exactly like the tee depicted in U.S. Pat. No. D 383,816, but was molded in a single piece. The TOE-TAL® tee and its successor the GROUND ZERO®-1 tee have been used in every NFL game since the 1999 season, now 12 consecutive years. Although other tees are legal for use in NFL games, the GROUND ZERO®-1 tee has become the tee of choice for NFL kickers.
As football tee configurations evolved by Applicant, there became a need for a tee which could be used to standardize execution of onside kicks. As is known, onside kicks are typically used when a team is behind in the score late in the game and wants to try to recover its own kickoff after a score to attempt to catch up to the other team's score. In the game of American football, during a kickoff, after the ball has traveled 10 yards, it is considered a live ball that either team can recover. However, there is a proviso in the rules that says that the receiving team can call for a “fair catch” of any kickoff that has traveled at least 10 yards in the air and, if a fair catch is requested, the receiving team must be permitted to catch the ball without interference from the kicking team.
Based upon this combination of rules, if the kicking team wants to recover an onside kick, they must kick the ball in such a manner that it bounces off the ground at least once in the first 10 yards of travel. If this occurs, the receiving team may not execute the “fair catch” signal and, once the ball travels 10 yards, either team may recover it. Thus, kickers have tried to perfect the technique of driving the ball into the ground and having it bounce high in the air somewhere above the field, but more than 10 yards from the spot it was kicked to give the kicking team an opportunity to recover it. In order to best facilitate practicing and executing such an onside kick, Applicant developed the GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee which is covered by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,309,316 issued Oct. 30, 2001, D 489,779 issued May 11, 2004, D 507,315 issued Jul. 12, 2005, D 507,814 issued Jul. 26, 2005, and D 513,775 issued Jan. 24, 2006. The GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee as currently manufactured most closely resembles the tees claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D 507,315 and D 513,775. The GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee is not legal for use in NFL games, but has evolved to become the most popular football tee used in college football in the United States, particularly in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned games. Applicant estimates that at least 80% of college kickers use the GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee. A description and explanation of the evolution of the GROUND ZERO ONSIDE® tee is set forth in detail in the text of U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,316, particularly in the BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION section of that patent, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Additionally, in high schools, kickers make frequent use of the TOE-TAL® tee, not only in the configuration shown in U.S. Pat. No. D 383,816, but also in the configuration shown in U.S. Pat. No. D 383,817 as a kicking block on which the ball may be held for field goals and also as shown in particular in FIGS. 1-3 of U.S. Pat. No. D 392,705 without the base as a one quarter inch kickoff tee or a one inch block. Additionally, a two inch version of the GROUND ZERO®-1 tee, known as the GROUND ZERO®-2 tee, allows kickoffs with the ball elevated two inches which is legal in high schools, but not in college or the professional ranks. Many high school kickers use the GROUND ZERO®-2 tee for kickoffs. In combination, the TOE-TAL® tee and the GROUND ZERO®-2 tee are the most popular high school tees currently used.
As kickers have used the TOE-TAL® tee and GROUND ZERO® tees, Applicant has observed that those kickers prefer to place the ball within the ball receiving recess as lightly as possible. The ball receiving recess has been designed with a forward facing opening that is framed by two flexible ribs that dig into the football when its tip is pushed into the recess to support the ball adequately even under strong wind conditions. However, despite this fact, kickers prefer to support the ball in the recess as lightly as possible. As such, a need has developed to support the ball in the manner for which the TOE-TAL® and GROUND ZERO® tees are known, in which a surface shaped at least partially in conformance with the shape of the tip of the football is employed, however, with a reduced surface area to reduce the resistance of the tee to kicking the ball out of the recess. It is with this need in mind that the present invention was also developed.
In the continuing evolution of football tees to be used in the game of American football, kickers strive to learn all of the techniques necessary to give them the versatility necessary to become a valuable player on a football team. These techniques include not only executing field goals, but different kinds of kickoffs, such as long kickoffs, onside kicks, squib kicks, and directional kicking. Kickers like to be able to have one tee that can facilitate accomplishment of all of the techniques they wish to exercise.
As such, a need has developed for a football tee that combines into a single product the ability to kick long kickoffs, directional kickoffs, onside kicks, and squib kicks with the football being supported in each case in a way that can be repeatedly practiced and then used in the same way under game conditions. It is with this thought in mind that the present invention was developed.